Miguel A.

Miguel is the directing soul and a founder of the Scalabrini Centre for Refugees and Immigrants. As people using it today, he arrived in the mid-80s in Québec City, in the St. Sacrement district, as a refugee. This was not however his first contact with Canada. He had participated in a student exchange program sponsored by Canada World Youth in 1975. In his six-month visit, he got to stay in Ottawa, Toronto and Drummondville.

He arrived with his wife, pregnant with a boy later born in Quebec, and his two older sons. The first thing he did upon his arrival was to learn French at the local COFI. As he had served as a social worker in El Salvador, he was then able to act as an interpreter from Spanish to French for the benefit of newcomers. Well integrated in the community, he became director of the Centre Multiethnique de Québec, then known as the Fraternité Multiculturelle de Québec.

Meanwhile, other members of his and his wife’s families joined them in Quebec, settling, however, in Montreal. Miguel and his family eventually followed them here. Native from the main port city of Salvador, Acajutla, he had experience with trade and customs matters. This allowed him to find work in Montréal as director of imports for an organization that wanted to develop a fair trade coffee business with Haitians. The company unfortunately did not survive long. After studying at HEC, he worked at Desjardins Group in accounting for some years.

The family made a detour by Vancouver after a restructuration that cost him his job. He worked there as director of the Hispanic Community Center. The call of the family, however, brought them all back to Montreal in the early 2000s.

Upon his return, he worked as a volunteer at the church of Our Lady of Pompeii on Sauvé Street at the corner of St-Michel. Initially, he received two days a week refugees and immigrants of Hispanic, Haitian and African origins who were asking for help from the parish to get through the immigration process. The Scalabrini Missionaries, a religious order founded by Giovanni Baptista Scalabrini, father of migrants, realized that the needs were growing quickly. They consequently bought St-Rita church to turn it into a secular and independent help center. The first months were devoted to refreshing this unused church that was in great need of care.

Miguel then became director of a small but determined team that animated, with a group of volunteers, this non-profit organization. He is currently helped by two full-time staff members, Mélissa and Edilse. At first, the center offered accommodation to men in four rooms. However, it was quickly apparent that there was a greater lack of resources for women. Today, the center has ten rooms reserved for women. Offering legal services, translation services and a small thrift store to newcomers, the center has also opened its doors to the surrounding community. It’s computer room is open to the public and language courses are offered to all adults. Recreational activities are also given there in collaboration with the Loisirs Sophie-Barat. This fall, there are English classes for children under 5 years, ballet classes and theater for school kids and Zumba for teens. The old parish hall can be rented. The Fernand-Seguin school is using these premises for after school homework assistance.

The Scalabrini Centre for Immigrant and Refugee is among the partners who are preparing to host Syrian refugees in Montreal. At the time of our meeting, Miguel had just participated in meetings on the subject, involving the concerned Minister, social organizations and religious communities.

Although there are no more Masses, except for some special occasions, the church is open to all for prayer. A small chapel, in which a group of Syrians already meets weekly, is dedicated to the cult of St. Rita, Saint of the Impossible and patron of desperate causes.

Most of Miguel’s family is now Quebec and becoming increasingly multicultural with of his son’s life partners. When I asked him if he sometimes thought of returning to Salvador, he replied “No I would feel as an immigrant in my own country. I prefer to stay at home in Québec”.

Miguel in the St-Rita Scalabrini church, 655 Sauriol Street East

Ricardo U.

On a beautiful Friday, I approached a group of friends who fraternized around a barbecue in the Henri-Julien Park curious to know what united them. They said speak to Ricardo. He animates an association of Salvadorians that regroups natives from the town of San Vicente and their friends. On this occasion, they were receiving visitors from Boston also linked to San Vicente. For many years these people have been meeting for a friendly game of football. This year, a first one took place in Boston early in the summer. The second was to take place the next day at Jarry Park. This is a tradition that goes back to a game played in 1997. For the last ten years it has become initially an annual meeting, and, in recent years a Montreal-Boston round trip.

Much of the Montrealers in this group also meet other Latin American Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Henri-Julien Park to play soccer on a friendly basis. These fraternal meetings have been happening for over three decades in this park.

Ricardo left Salvador alone in his early twenties. After arriving in Québec in the early 80s, he was granted a refugee status. He had fled the civil war between the extreme right forces and the rebel guerrilla as nearly a million displaced citizens did over that decade. The assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero has shown the world no one was safe between these two camps. The mere fact of being in your twenties could associate you with the rebels.

He had learned the trade of electrician in El Salvador. His background served him well. After he was refused access to examinations for a permit to pratice this profession here, he completed technical courses at CEGEP level and labored many years as a technician in controls and instrumentation. He also completed a certificate in English.

Ricardo has two children who were born here and are now in their early twenties. One of his brothers also joined in Montreal in the late 80s.

Seeing he still has strong ties to El Salvador I asked him if today the country is pacified enough for him to consider going back to his roots. He said he also likes Quebec and explained that despite the return of a certain level of democracy, the country remains one of the most dangerous in the Americas. The homicide rate is very high. Violent criminal gangs, the Maras Salvatruchas (MS-13) in particular, dictate their rules. There are unwritten laws that must be followed to ensure one’s survival.

Aware of his roots and the precariousness of the lives of refugees, he has been offering for a dozen years, on private terms, assistance and translation services to newcomers. He rents for a small fee a modest office at the Scalabrini Centre for refugees and immigrants. He also finds time to volunteer for this organization located on Sauriol street East. Scalabrini Missionaries have bought the Sainte-Rita church in order to house the Scalabrini Centre in its presbytery, basement and parish hall. Ten rooms are home to the poorest immigrants. Although the church hall no longer serves a parish, it remains open as a temple for prayer.

We briefly discussed the wave of immigrants seeking to leave the Middle East to reach Europe. Ricardo points that many of the people seeking refuge have paid significant sums to organized criminal smugglers would have happily paid those amounts to legally emigrate to the West had its doors been open. Those arriving by the thousands at this time in Europe are not all destitute. The poorest unfortunately remain forgotten in their country and suffer of the shooting and bombing without recourse. In the master plans of the warmongers, there are always harmful consequences that have not been foreseen at all.

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Ricardo in his office

Florian R.

I met Florian at his brand new job. He will likely be the most recent local resident of this series. Indeed, on June 1st of this year, he started working at Ville en Vert, an organization whose mission is to raise awareness, educate and support both citizens and organizations in sustainable development in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville area.

Florian is from the Toulouse region in Southwestern France. After studying in a different field, he turned to horticulture, thus following the path of an elder sister. Looking for a program that met his aspirations, he chose the Cégep régional de Lanaudière offering and recently graduated from its Joliette campus. Incidentally, it is through fellow students who are now his roommates in Ahuntsic that he came to know the neighborhood.

I took his picture in the vegetable garden of the Collège André-Grasset on the day Ville en Vert took over its maintenance at the request of the college’s adviser for environment and sustainable development. The garden needed urgent attention, starting with a good weeding. I imagine that despite commendable efforts by the college, it is more difficult to find volunteer student gardeners in the summer!

Florian hopes the produce of this garden can eventually contribute to the food supply of Les Haltes Maraichères Ahuntsic, a mobile market held weekly in various locations during the summer.

When I asked him to describe himself in a word, he answered “uncertain”. There surely was a part of normal adaptation to his new environment behind that answer. It should also be noted that he is currently working on the basis of a three year post-diploma visa. In addition, as the government program that gave tuition parity to French citizens has been abolished − although our Prime Minister regularly says it will take more immigrants in the coming years −, the barriers to immigration remain important for newcomers.

It would be interesting to take a new picture in three years to see where he will be!

Have a good summer, Florian!

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Florian taking over the vegetable garden of Collège André-Grasset left in need of good care.